Monthly Archives: September 2006

‘Irving are the tree people. Like the budworm is the spruce budworm.’ –Lorne Elliott

Potemkin villages [1] are an Irving specialty. The urban areas of the Maritimes are no exception to the marvellous illusions wrought by this one family which has appropriated the modern science of ecology and all the Madison Avenue arts of greenwashing [2] to add lustre to the crown of its dynasty. Suffice to mention the K.C.Irving Memorial Forest, a vast, chemically-controlled monoculture alongside the Trans Canada Highway in New Brunswick; augmented by the Irving Eco-Centre at La Dune de Bouctouche; the K.C. Irving Environmental Centre and the Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens at Acadia University – open every day of the year and free to the public, the 8th wonder of the world. Continue reading →